Interreligious dialogue between Islam and Christianity is evolving under the mandate of His Holiness Pope Francis. Many events reveal that this dialogue will have a crucial impact on relations between the Holy See and Muslim countries. Before Pope Francis, Saint Pope John-Paul II had issued the Apostolic Exhortation to Lebanon in 1997, wherein he had emphasized that Muslims and Christians in Lebanon and the MENA region have a shared destiny and announced that Lebanon is the land of the Message. ...

A Dutch former far-right MP and right-hand man of anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has set tongues wagging in the Netherlands after revealing he has converted and become a Muslim, news reports said Tuesday. For seven years Joram van Klaveren fought a relentless campaign in the Lower House against Islam in the Netherlands as a lawmaker for Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV). At the time, the “hardliner pleaded for banning the burqa and minarets, saying ‘we don’t want any ...

The UAE is set to host the first mass held by Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi next month, which will be attended by some 120,000 people, including some of the region’s Muslim leaders. The mass will take place on February 5 at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi. “The distribution of invitation cards to attend the mass will take place across churches in the Arabian peninsula,” The National quoted Paul Hinder, the Catholic bishop of the southern Arabian Peninsula, as saying. The ...

Since Abraham built al-Ka’ba and called for Hajj 5,000 years ago, its doors have been of interest to kings and rulers throughout the history of Mecca. Historians say that when it was first built, the Kaaba had no door or roof and was simply made of walls. The first person to build a door for al-Kaaba was King Tubba, long before Prophet Mohammed, according to historians and what Ibn Hisham said in his biography. What confirms this is what al-Arzaqi mentioned in Kitab Akhbar Makka (Book of ...

Anyone who visits Bani Umayya al-Kabir Mosque, or the “Umayyad Mosque” in Damascus, as it is known, can also visit the tomb of St. John the Baptist inside the mosque. The premises contains two monuments of the church, which suggest that the mosque was built on its remnants. These two monuments are the Baptism premises – once used to baptize the babies – and a Greek engraving on the wall praising the Christ. The prominent presence of the tomb of St. John the Baptist in one ...

In the beginning of 16th century, an exceptional cleric rose to prominence in Europe. It was Martin Luther (1438-1546), professor of theology, who used lexicon that Christians were not familiar with. He believed in and promoted the idea of direct relation between man and God as this relation does not require mediation. The concept infuriated the church. “Faith is a matter between the individual and God,” Luther said. This idea was tantamount to a ball of fire that burnt whatever ...

A prospective tenant with the name Muhammad is most likely to face rejection from landlords across the rental market in the UK. Ethnic minorities, particularly Muslims, suffer more discrimination when looking for rooms or homes to rent, say experts after an investigation carried out by The Guardian newspaper. It revealed that Muslims suffered from persistent bias either conscious or unconscious. The snapshot survey of the private flat-share market found that inquiries from a Muslim received ...

From simple, open space surrounded walls of sunbaked brick of the bygone era to or recent ones that are architecturally stunning structure, the mosque primarily remains a place of prayer.However, the visually striking volume, Mosques – Splendors of Islam, by Leyla Uluhanli, transports the readers in an incredible journey from the ancient lands to modern world, where some of the amazing mosques exist. A Rizzoli New York publication, Prince Amyn Aga Khan has penned the foreword.Divided into ...